Azarene & everyone, that is my point. They could have prevented it rather than allowing it to become "necessary" to destroy an otherwise healthy animal. And yes, I also agree with rabbit breeding & bird breeding to name a few areas where people should know what they are breeding & breed (or not breed) responsibly. Humans are responsible & should not play God & simply kill because it isn't what they want. Disabled people may have a bad gene so should we destroy them or not allow them to breed? I agree with your arguments for the giraffe not having been born but not for killing him just because he was. Thank you once again for allowing me to vent & state my thoughts on this matter, I will now stop to avoid any problems with this thread. I do apologize, I should not have brought it here. This is a rabbit forum & from now on will stick to rabbit topics. Thank you all & thank you for being responsible rabbit breeders. I respect & admire your excellent care & breeding of healthy, quality rabbits as well as keeping the breed pure.
I understand that the situation is upsetting to a lot of people. Looking at it from an outside perspective, I would be really confused and offended by what happened.
It's only because I've been raising rabbits for some time that I understand it in a different way. As humans, we do the absolute best we can to keep our animals from harm. Most of the time, we can do that. But even among our best efforts, culling becomes necessary. From what I understand, the zoo does not use contraceptives in their herds - they let breeding happen naturally. When you do that, it becomes necessary to cull the herd. On the other hand, you could breed more selectively. But people also argue against that for a variety of reasons too. And even then, you can control the breeding, but not the result.
After placing pets for a number of years, you'll find that it's VERY difficult to choose good homes. The future quality of life of the animals we love are improved by breeding programs. But at the same rate, there are animals that aren't fitting for a breeding program.
That fact is magnified in the case of a giraffe...the number of safe havens for an non-breeding exotic animal is hugely reduced as compared to a pet dog or rabbit. The important thing here is that the animal served purpose in being born to his own herd, giving his dam the experience of raising offspring and hopefully leaving her in the condition to continue serving conservation efforts. And even in his death, he sustained the life of other animals.
Anyway, I hope this thread doesn't turn "ugly." I don't mean any of my responses in an argumentative way, and I hope others don't either. Discussions like this are important among animal lovers because the future of our animals is in our hands. I like hearing others' opinions and being able to re-evaluate and possibly modify my own breeding efforts as these topics come up to better serve the animals I work with.
